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Ok, the sourdough starters and I have a love / hate relationship at this point. And by that I mean that I love to hate them. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I thought I got them out of their funk by overachieving as a starter mom and being very vigilant in feeding every night and feeding a ratio higher than that of reserved starter. But they have misbehaved again with a distinct acetone smell instead of something more pleasantly unpleasant. Got home from work late enough tonight that it was tomorrow instead of today. Wasn't in the mood for their shenanigans... They don't respond well to the mom voice like the rest of the family and coworkers for that matter.... So, I decided to feed them a ratio higher than I have tried before just to try something different and see what happens... and because frankly, I don't really care what happens anymore and may as well just do whatever I want. LOL. This is like getting a puppy and realizing the next day you made a horrible mistake. Sure it might be a good dog eventually.... but man, what a lot of work to get it there. Got to stay on top of it and do it right or you'll end up with problems all along the way. And this doesn't even have any redeeming cute qualities to make up for all that work. And even worse than that - it might never die. I might have signed up for a life sentence of measuring flour and water and rinse and repeat.

Pictures in the morning (or I guess later this morning) if there is anything noteworthy.

I'm supposed to have a couple of days off at the end of the week, not sure if it's going to happen or not with the work situation. If it does, these are getting parked in the fridge regardless of where I am at in the process and if they are ready for it or not.

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There is definitely activity but it’s this darn acetone smell that is driving me nuts. But I think it’s because it’s hungry. Ravenous like an unruly teenage boy. Lol.

The one with more diverse feeding. I don’t even remember which is which at this point name wise.

And the one with more mundane feeding.

On the the bright side, I think I hit the sweet spot of just enough sleep to function again today without feeling totally exhausted.

And I will look forward to supplementing what I have with what you send @Ben S. Maybe something from your part of the world will line these rogue Wild West critters I have cultivated out and make them more civilized.

this says the smell is nothing to concern yourself with, it is most likely acetic acid, a product of fermentation.

I like to get a starter going with whole grains, a better environment for natural yeast. But I prefer the flavors of bread made from a starter that is 100 % AP flour.

I dont buy that we have different strains of natural yeast. The flavors you get are a product of temp, time, and the flour used. All three of those variables play a role in fermentation pathways any flavor compounds produced.

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I’m wondering if might be discarding too much starter and adding too much new flour and water. Somewhere between equal parts old starter, flour, and water and 1 part starter to 2 parts each of flour and water ought to be your target feeding routine.

If there’s too much flour and water added, the critters won’t get a foothold before the next feeding, and too little would starve the starter.

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I’m wondering if might be discarding too much starter and adding too much new flour and water. Somewhere between equal parts old starter, flour, and water and 1 part starter to 2 parts each of flour and water ought to be your target feeding routine.

If there’s too much flour and water added, the critters won’t get a foothold before the next feeding, and too little would starve the starter.

So the strong smell seemed to subside when I increased from equal parts starter flour and water more towards the 2 parts flour and water to one part starter and made sure not to miss any feedings. I don’t think I have exceeded that ratio in feeding. Even last night when I thought I was being aggressive I didn’t exceed it. I do think I wasn’t feeding it enough for awhile.... and like you said I was “starving the starter”.

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I have woke them up from their nap a couple of times actually. They sure are lazy.

The last time this past weekend was pretty epic.

Good news: They are doing better than expected.

Bad news: I had one heck of a mess to clean up as they overflowed their containers.

One of these days I will get the courage or inspiration to carry on again in that endeavor. For right now, I’m just keeping them parked in the fridge and feeding every couple of weeks. I lost my motivation somewhere along the way on that project...

Or someone will poke the bear again and prompt me to do something with it... Lol

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The coffee filter is a neat idea! And impressed with your labeling....

A plate underneath might come in handy in case disaster strikes again. Might have to steal that idea.... I mean it was super fun to clean up my overflow disaster and all.... but really one of those been there done that and don't need to do it again kind of things.

So you really keep up with yours daily? I'm impressed if so. I am not that good of a starter mom.

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The coffee filter is a neat idea! And impressed with your labeling....

A plate underneath might come in handy in case disaster strikes again. Might have to steal that idea.... I mean it was super fun to clean up my overflow disaster and all.... but really one of those been there done that and don't need to do it again kind of things.

So you really keep up with yours daily? I'm impressed if so. I am not that good of a starter mom.

I typically feed daily. Once in awhile I forget to feed but then I feed next day. So far that hasn’t killed my starter. The plate idea was last year I experienced and overflow that made it onto the table where I was keeping starter. So now I always keep on a plate.

I had a Gold Rush starter that I put in refrigerator last year and I did not feed it at all in refrigerator, it end up dehydrated I bought it out recently and removed dehydrated material from container. I used 1 oz and but rest in zip lock bag. I am attempting to see if I can get the starter going again. I saw a few bubbles last night about 2 hours after feeding it. I will see later tonight if any activity. This Gold rush starter has a different flavour profile making taste where the sourdough loafs taste like they were made in San Francisco.

I am also debating trying to get fruit or coffee based starter going. The process is described in one of Peter Reinhart’s books which I own a number of.